School AP Lit ... I miss you!)
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
The Race of Life, William Wordsworth
I was just sitting here in this ferry, en route to Niigata for a
conference. Thinking. And it just sort of hit me funny. Here I am,
surrounded by about 60 middle-aged Japanese men, all in corpse pose on
this Barney-purple carpet taking an afternoon snooze. And how probably
approximately only 12.3% of the people in this room believe in God.
And for far too much of my life, I took the comfort and peace that
such knowledge brings for granted.
In my pre-mission life, I was more wrapped up in "Good heavens that
trill in my Chopin étude still isn't perfect," or "I can't get through
this week because I just ran out of Life cereal," or "TEXT ME BACK."
(I know. I have some repenting to do). And when I didn't have to think
about anything at all, it certainly was not the purpose of life, God,
etc., because I've always just sort of known. Known that a million
gazillion years ago, we were all in the Pre-Earth Life, and we chose
to come to this Planet Earth and follow Jesus Christ.
But even if we know, we probably don't do all things that we should
do. This very much includes yours truly. Just as Wordsworth put it,
"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting."
WE JUST FORGET EVERYTHING. Or we're just lazy.
I have been going to church since the day I was born. But I am ashamed
to admit I have probably read the fourth Harry Potter book more times
than the Book of Mormon, can sing "All You Need is Love" better than
all the verses of "Love at Home," and still think about looking for
the biggest piece of bread during sacrament meeting on Fast Sunday
(we've all done it ... ). There are far too many times when we (I)
forget about the one who's in charge of it all, and why we as
Latter-day Saints do what we do. Earlier today Sister Mondano and I
were sitting at the bus stop chatting with a lady about the purpose of
life. You know, typical small-talk. Sister Mondano asks her, "Do you
want to be with your family forever?" The lady says, "Well I believe
that in my heart." And I say, "Believe if you believe, but that's not
enough." And then she sort of gave me a funny look and then the bus
came and she tried to run away from us.
This roundabout conversation I'm having with myself really does have a
point, I think. We have daily prayer, scripture study, and regular
church attendance because we need to be reminded--reminded that God is
God, and we are not. When we do these things consistently, we are
reminded of the why we are here and why it even matters. Investigators
often tell us, "I didn't even care if God existed until [X] happened
in my life." Compelled to humility (see Alma 32:16 for the
clarification). I guess my point is don't forget about a loving
Heavenly Father until something MAKES you remember.
This is a whole lot of sermonizing, so I guess I will tell you about
the dendō we did this week. Read on if you're not bored.
We were housing in a blizzard and we saw an old lady walking through a
bamboo forest. We make it a point to chase literally everyone on the
streets (it's not that hard--we see like two people a day) and I "made
a phone call" while Sister Mondano started talking to her. She punched
Sister Mondano really hard for saying that Sado is a nice place. ("You
flatter too much!") As we walked away, we noticed this huge house. And
then this lady comes running out of it in the snow and is bowing to
us. I was afraid she was going to get whiplash. She welcomes us in and
then we realize that this house is a restaurant. She lived in New
Zealand, Thailand, and Vietnam to learn how to cook. "I think we
should be friends," I think. Turns out she became Protestant years ago
after a serious illness and felt like she needed God in her life. She
is a cool lady. She also makes really good food. #notgoodforacidreflux
We also taught some other people. One lady walked into the church the
other day and asked the elders if she could learn about our church.
Miraculous, considering our church is on a forgotten little road. She
says it's the elders' rosy cheeks and sparkly eyes that sparked her
interest. #nocomment The work here in Sado is cruising. Unlike myself
on a bicycle in the snow. But I am not forgetting to count my
blessings. When we have the gospel, we've got it all.
Sister Margaret Willden
(Monday, February 24th)
Pic 1: お雛様 dolls that this random lady invited us into her house to look at.
Pic 2: Awkward Niigata Zone selfie. Unfortunately we are not equipped
with a self-timer.
Pic 3: Look at all this yummy authentic Thai food I got for 1000円! #instaham
Pic 4: I'm so happy!
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